"I’m too sacred for the sinners/And the saints wish I would leave." - Mark Heard

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Nostalgic Reading

Around Christmas I bought a handful of early 80s Fangoria magazines off eBay. Since then I've thoroughly enjoyed slowly reading my way through this magazine that was obviously a labor of love for a small group of writers. Most of the magazine is on gray paper and there are few color photos. Instead they focus on content, managing to interview and pay homage to directors and effects people on forgotten films of the fifties before they went to their graves. These are from a time when the VCR was just getting off the ground and the only content on the internet was academic, if you were fortunate to be able to be at a university with a connection. So the only place to hear about these old and new gems was Fangoria!

The most recent issue that I'm reading (#40) has a little blurb about a great new short film from Disney called "Frankenweenie." They don't mention that it was created by Tim Burton because in 1983/1984 no one knew who he was. There's also discussion on a movie called "The Terminator" by some guy named James Cameron whose only other work had been as a director on "Piranha Part Two." And then there's Wes Craven talking about being excited about his new movie that blurs the lines between the dream world and reality, something about Nightmares and Elm trees. One of the actors is this musician named Johnny Depp who is trying his hand at acting and he gets sucked into a bed... he's having a blast. Oh, there's also a teaser about an upcoming TV series called "Tales From the Darkside" that they are hoping is a big hit.